Sixth form students from Beaminster and Bridport venture out for field trip (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)
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Sixth form students from Beaminster and Bridport venture out for field trip
1:30pm Friday 26th October 2012 in News By James Tourgout
OUTDOOR LESSONS: Geography students study the River Piddle and the coastline
SIXTH form students from Beaminster and Bridport ventured into the great outdoors for a field trip.
The Beaminster and Sir John Colfox Year 12 geography pupils went on the course to Swanage to study the River Piddle and the coastline.
As part of their AS geography course, students have to complete a field study on an aspect of geography that they will be tested on in their exam.
Trip leader Mr Curtis-Dyke, head of geography at Beaminster, said: “All the students showed great commitment and dedication in such harsh weather conditions, and the trip has been a great opportunity for both Beaminster and Colfox students to get to know each other.
“It has also been a pleasure to work with my Colfox colleague Mr Nick Preston.
“Field trips such as this really do show that a joint sixth form has many advantages.”
Students spent the day on Swanage Beach studying the sea defences and the social and economic impacts of sea erosion. They used ranging poles and clinometers to study longshore drift in order to gauge how successful the defence scheme has been.
They also visited Studland Bay to see how a sand dune system forms.
The students braved wet weather and wore waders as they studied the River Piddle at four different sites.
In order to compare the River Piddle to Bradshaw’s Model of a typical river’s changes in characteristics downstream, students used a range of field study equipment.
Flow meters were used to measure velocity, and a theodolite was used to measure the river’s gradient downstream.
Tape measures and metre rulers were used to measure the river’s width and depth. Finally, students compared bedload size and shape to Powers’ Index of Angularity. The students spent their final day in the classroom at Leeson House writing up their results, which included the statistical analysis Spearman’s Rank.
